Sideways Stories from the Castaways
by DarkAngel1227
Summary: They think they changed everything, but fate has other plans for our Castaways. A look into the sideways lives of Suliet, Jate and others. Spoilers for season 6. Please R&R.
1. Jack

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Jack**

Jack Shephard was talking to Brenda the head nurse about the appointment he had this morning when he saw her walk through the door. Her normally curly hair was straight and she was wearing a blue blouse that accented her eyes. The other nurses flock to her like she was a celebrity. He supposes in a way she is. He sees that her red headed friend was with her and they both talk animatedly with the nurses. He looks again notices that Brenda was over there too. She always had a way with people; she'd open her mouth and gains everyone's trust in a matter of minutes. It was a talent he both admired and envied.

He walks over to join everyone else. "Juliet" he says. She left the hospital three years ago to open a private practice from what he heard was doing extremely well. Not that he would think otherwise, she was the miracle worker after all. "Charlotte" he nods at her friend.

"Jack" she replies with a smile.

"You seem to have taken all the nurses" he says jokingly.

"We're just catching up" she replies. "But we'll have plenty of time for that." She finishes.

"Really, what are you here for?" he asks.

"A consult, you know how it is, I recommend to my patients that this is the best hospital to give birth in and the hospital gives me cases in return."

Jack nods his head. "And Charlotte is she here for moral support?" Those two had the strangest friendship one that he could never wrap his head around. Juliet was calm and sweet and Charlotte was wild and brash.

"No, she's here as a translator, the couple doesn't speak English." Juliet tells him.

He smiles and nods as they leave to go to their appointment. He was a little mad that she didn't tell him she had an appointment. This wasn't the first thing she's kept him from knowing. She didn't really need to tell him everything, but after all they've been through a little heads up would've been nice. He supposed he did deserve some of it but he didn't know why. Whenever he saw her always felt that he had let her down horribly but nothing that bad had ever happened which is probably why he let everything go when it came to her.

He sighs, turns around and walks to his office; he smiles at his assistant and walks inside with a smile on his face. "Mr. Locke, I'm glad you decided to take my offer."

"It wasn't all me." He replies with a small smile. "My fiancée Helen thought we should give it shot."

Jack holds his hand out. "Nice to meet you Helen, I'm glad you brought him in." he walks to other side and sits at his desk. "Your other doctors faxed me over you file and I do have to tell you I have had success with other people with your condition."

"That's why I told him we should try. I read about you. Dr. Shephard. They said if we had something that needed fixing you're the one we should go to." Helen tells him.

Jack smiles; he hated that article it made him sound like he could fix anything. That put to much pressure on him and he took that out on other people. He didn't want to become his father and he was fixing that by fixing his relationship with David. David didn't need the best at everything, he was proud of him for just being David. He looks at the couple in front of him, he wanted to help but he wasn't going to get their hopes up if he couldn't. "I will need to take some x-rays before I can make a decision." He tells them. "As with any surgery there are risks and as I said I have done this before but there's always the slight chance it won't work, Mr. Locke"

"You can call me John." He says as Helen grabs his hand and squeezes it. "I've already had many disappoints Dr. Shephard so I'm prepared for the worst. I'm doing this for her." He says looking at Helen. "She believes it was destiny that we met at lost luggage, so if it I'm willing to give it a chance."

"All right, John." Jack smiles; he did love the optimists even if he wasn't so sure about destiny. "If you would go with the Radiologist, he'll take you down for the x-rays and I will get back to you later this afternoon on whether or not we can do this."

"This afternoon, that's quick." Helen says.

"I don't like to keep people waiting with news like this whether it's good or bad it's better to hear it sooner rather than later." Jack stands up to see them out the door.

"Thank you." Helen says shaking his hand as she walks out the door.

He smiles as he watches them leave, then rubs the back of his neck with his hand. He really hoped he could help that man. He seemed perfectly content in his chair but being out of it would be even better for him.

He sits back down at his desk and pulls out the file of next patient and goes over his notes again. The patient was a forty three year old male with a tumor was located on his L-4 vertebrae, he was lucky they caught in time any later and it would've been inoperable.

He goes to the locker room to change and prepare for the surgery. He takes deep breaths and counts to five. He scrubs his hands and forearms and chats with the other doctors. Then he pushes open the doors with his elbows and puts his gloves on. He walks over to the man lying on his stomach on the operating table. "How are we doing today Mr. Linus?"

* * *

A/N: I'm going to try and do one for every character. Let me know what you think?


	2. Kate

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Kate**

Kate Austen sees her window shopping at a baby store. She fights back and forth with herself about whether or not to go over to her. It was strange to see her; LA was huge city, what are the chances that they'd meet again a month later? She still felt bad about what she did, so she runs across the street. "Claire!" she says.

"Kate?" the Australian woman asks surprised.

"Yeah, how are you and Aaron?" Kate asks looking at Claire's belly.

"We're fine, I guess." Claire answers hesitantly. "I still don't know if I could do this."

"Come on, you'll make a great mom." Kate tells her. "Do you have a place to stay?"

"Yeah, this nice French woman is letting stay above her flower shop and gave me a job." Claire replies. "Her daughter already offered to babysit." She says with a small smile.

"That's great!" Kate replies smiling. She was happy things were working out for her. She'd spent the past few years running and conning her way into places to stay that she really missed having a place to call home. "Is there something in there that you need?" She asks pointing at the baby shop.

"No, I think I have everything, it's just that outfit on the mannequin is adorable." Claire says with her eyes lighting up.

"Then let's get it, I'm sure Aaron would look even cuter with it on. I'll buy it for you." She didn't know why she felt the need to protect them so badly. She did still feel guilty about what she had done that she knew she had to keep making it up to her and her son. But for some reason she felt like there was something more.

"No, you don't have to." She says shyly.

"I want to; it will be like a baby shower gift." She hoped Claire would take her up on her offer, she wanted to get something for Aaron and this may be her only chance.

They go inside the store, she finds the outfit and they ask the salesperson what size a newborn wears. She pays cash for it she can't leave a trail. They walk outside and find a bench to sit on she hands Claire the bag with the outfit and her credit card back. "Here, I didn't use it and you need it more than I do."Claire looks at her confused. "You have a baby to take care of soon, I'll be fine."

Claire takes the card hesitantly and slips it into her purse. They sit there enjoying the nice warm California day when she sees a cop car pull up to the store next to the baby shop. Her heart starts racing as she's the cops stare at her. The salesperson must've called them; she shouldn't have gone in there not when they were probably passing her picture around all over Los Angeles.

"Sorry, I have to go." She tells Claire as she takes off running. They follow behind her. She runs through the crowd hoping to lose them, she looks behind to see that she hasn't. She tries to run faster but her lungs are burning, she knocks things down to slow them. She turns a corner then another, then back tracks the way she came, running past them on the other side of the street. She runs a little more than stops to catch her breath, the last she saw them they were running in the other direction.

Suddenly she's thrown against the wall and feels the cold metal handcuffs being placed on her wrists. She moves her jaw around and feels a little blood trickling down her cheek. "Kate Austen" he says in a southern accent. He turns her around.

"Not as slippery as you thought." The Asian one says.

She looks at him recognizing him. "You let me go at the airport." She tells him reading his nameplate Officer Ford. She knew he saw her cuffs and she thought he understood her and that's why he let her go. Obivously she was wrong, but yet the look in his eyes still gave her hope that she could get him to let her go.

"Yeah, so I could catch ya, there's a hefty reward for you." He says with a smile. "And the Chief she likes reward money."

She looks at the other one's nameplate Officer Straume as he reads her, her rights. "You have the right to right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

She nods. LA cops would be easy to escape from. They push her forward and they each grab on to her arms and start walking back towards their car.

Claire was still there looking at her as they approached. She gives her a small smile as they push her head down and into the police car. Suddenly Claire grips her stomach and screams. The officers close the door and run to her.

"I think I'm in labor" Claire tells them, they look at each other and open the door telling her to move over. They help Claire into the vehicle; Ford gets in the driver's seat while Straume takes shotgun. They turn on the sirens and race towards the hospital.


	3. Juliet

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Juliet**

Juliet Carlson pushes the number four button on the elevater. She knew she'd see Jack he did work here; she just didn't expect to see him the minute she walked in the door. She didn't tell him because this was all last minute. Sonya the head of the fertility department called and said they had an impossible case which meant it was time for her magic to help this couple. The doors open, Charlotte and her walk out onto the obstetrics/maternity wing.

They walk to room they would be using to prepare for the couple they would be seeing. Charlotte looks around the room at the posters of male and female reproduction systems. Juliet smiles, she met the archeologist in Tanzania when she was with Doctors without Borders as an obstetrician for a year. Charlotte was on dig for a rich couple Haki and Ajali Malokotela that had found strange items on their land; Haki's family has owned the land for many years and his home was filled with the strange items that his ancestors had found. His family believed they were sent by the Gods so they didn't question what they were. But Haki was curious by nature and wanted to know where they came from so Charlotte who was already in Tanzania took the job immediately. She was called to their house to deliver Ajali's baby boy who they later named Kipawa meaning Gift.

As she was also curious by nature the items the Malokotela's had were newer and not something you'd find buried in a land that was thousands of years old. The items in house were from the 1950's – 1970's so she went with Charlotte to check out the spot where they were found. When she was helping Charlotte dig they uncovered what looked like a cover of some sort with the numbers, 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 on it.

"They're here" A nurse says popping her head in.

"Ok, thank you. Send them in." Juliet tells her and stands up to greet them. "Mr. and Mrs. Kwon, I'm Dr. Juliet Carlson and this is Dr. Charlotte Lewis she will translate for us." She says as Charlotte translates and then they both bow to them. They look at her then at Charlotte and nod. She points to the two chairs and she sits across from them at the desk.

"I know this is hard, having to keep going to different doctors and hearing the same news over and over again" She pauses to let Charlotte translate. "But I've developed a serum that essentially makes it possible for you to have a baby." She smiles when she sees' Mrs. Kwon's face light up as her husband tries to look stoic but she sees a smile in his eyes.

Mr. Kwon speaks and she looks at Charlotte.

"They want to know how soon?" Charlotte tells her.

"I will need to take samples from both of you and try the serum until one takes and then we can do the implantation in about week." She tells them. She stands and walks them to the other room. Once she recieves the samples she smiles and tells them she'd call them when the results were in. She went to work right away in the lab, then looks at the clock she told Charlotte she'd meet her for lunch in an hour.

She walks down the hallway past a police officer and a woman sitting in the far corner of the waiting area. She smiles at them and they both smile back and nod. She continues on her way she had just stored the Kwon's samples, she was happy that she was going to be able to help the Kwon's. The best part of her job was telling her patients that have received nothing but bad news that they were going to be parents.

She was smiling to herself when sees him holding three sodas like a pyramid in his hands. He had blonde hair and his police uniform brought out the color of his eyes. Her heart rate speeds up and as he passes her and she can't help but turn her head slightly to follow him and sees that he was staring at her too. She can't take her eyes off him she doesn't want to. There was something about him that she was drawn to all these emotions run through her, which was strange because she didn't even know him. He smiles at her a smile that makes her heart melt and she instinctively smiles back. She didn't know what was wrong with her, she had to stop herself because in the back of her mind she saw herself run up to him, kiss him and run her hands through his hair. She shakes her head trying to clear it of thoughts about a man she's never met.

They both keep walking and are getting further and further away from each other until she bumps into a nurse. "Oh my, I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention." She says and helps the nurse up. She turns around to look for him again but he was gone.

She runs to the bathroom and looks in the mirror. Her face was flushed and her heart was still racing. She had never felt such intense emotions like this before. _Who was that man? And why did he have this affect on me? _She runs some cold water over face to try and make some of the redness disappear.

The door swings open and a women runs in as she was drying her face. "Dr. Smith?" She asks surprised to see her. "What are you doing?"

"Hiding from my boss" the frazzled woman tells her.

"Harper's not that bad" Juliet tells her. Which wasn't true Harper was like a dictator to the entire Psychiatric department. "If you want you can hide out in my office, it's an unused one she wouldn't think to look for you there."

Dr. Smith looks at the watch and back up. "I have an appointment in two hours so that will work, thanks; you're a life saver Juliet."

"It's really not a problem Libby."


	4. James

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**James**

James Ford runs in the hospital as they wheel the pregnant woman alongside him. He tells the doctors what little he knows. She kept screaming so they couldn't get her name. He sighs he'd have to bring in the criminal to tell them, he didn't really want to give her any chances to escape. He was able to catch her easily but she wasn't stupid and had been on the run for two years now. So he couldn't let his guard down. He told the nurses to take care of the woman and he'd be back with more information.

He walks her in still in handcuffs to tell the nurses what she knows about the woman they brought in.

"Do you have a habit of befriending the people you mug?" Miles asks her with a small grin. She just looks at him and ignores him.

He'd have to fill out paperwork for this detour and he hated that. "As soon as this is done" he says holding up the papers. "You can make yourself a nice cozy home in prison."

"We're not staying?" She asks surprised.

"Why would we stay Lola? We deliver criminals not babies. She'll be fine; the doc's will take care of her." He says looking back at his paper work.

"Please, I need to know if she's ok, if the baby's ok." She pleads.

His hand stops writing from the tone of her voice and he looks up at her confused. "It ain't your kid, why are you so worried?" he asks.

She looks at him "I don't know." She says sincerely. "I just have to know that they're going to be ok."

James looked at her and shook his head he didn't know why he was going to give in. He didn't know why he cared, this woman was a murderer but he felt a connection with her, which was impossible. When his parents were murdered, he made it his life's mission to find the man that did it and put him behind bars. He became a cop to stop that from happening to anyone else. He had an eye for anyone using fake documents and from that he was able to catch killers and con men and women.

_Why did he feel he should help this one? _She set a house on fire killing a man and felt she was above paying for her crimes. But when he looked at her face, he wanted to help her and for some reason he also wanted to make sure the Australian and her baby were ok. "Fine, we can stay here, but as soon as she gives birth, you're going to jail." He tells her.

"Thank you." She says with tears forming in her eyes.

"And if you cause any trouble that deals off." He adds.

"I won't, thank you again" she tells him smiling.

They take the elevator up the fourth floor and find some chairs in the waiting area that were away from everyone else. While Miles holds her he takes the handcuffs off, puts them on again with her hands in front and throws a jacket over them. He still had no idea why he was being so nice.

"What are you to going to tell Isobel?" Miles asks him as they wait.

"The Chief doesn't know we have her yet, I'll just say we're still looking but hot on her trail." He says leaning back on the plastic chair, the he gets up again. "Want somethin' to drink?" he asks them.

He puts the quarters in the slot and presses the button and he reaches in through the flap to grab the soda. He places that on top of the other two and starts walking back towards them when he sees her, a goddess. Long straight blonde hair and the bluest eyes he'd ever seen. He was lost in them, he forgot about everything, where he was, what he was doing. All he saw was her. He follows her eyes as they followed his. His heart beats against his chest as he stares at her.

In his mind he sees himself holding her close, with one hand caressing her cheek as he leans to kiss her. _Where was that thought coming from?_ She was beautiful but he's never seen her before and he was having thoughts of being with her, not just run of the mill fantasy thoughts, intimate thoughts of having known her for years. He shakes his head trying to think of something of else while still keeping his eyes trained on her. They keep walking in different directions and he strains his neck to keep from losing sight of her. Then he blinks when she suddenly disappears from his view, he looks for her confused.

"Yo Romeo, are you going to stand there forever? I'm thirsty!" Miles says pulling him out of his trance.

"Calm down Mr. Miyagi, patience is a virtue." James retorts back.

"Mr. Miyagi is Japanese." Miles says taking his soda. "I'm Chinese so there is no patience for girl watching. Even if the blond you were staring at was hot."

James just shakes his head and opens the can, hands it to Kate and plops down next to her. He leans out on his chair to see if he can see her again. She was gone. He'd have to find her because he's never felt this way about anyone, he had to know her.

"Having a baby Officer Ford?" she says with a smile.

He looks up to see a red head standing in front of him. This was the last place he expected to see her. Their last encounter didn't go as smoothly as he hoped but he doesn't let that show and smiles back. "Charlotte Lewis" he says in a lazy southern drawl.


	5. John

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**John**

John Locke sat in his chair next to Helen watching the game. He promised one of his students that he'd try to catch one of his games. He was only a sub but he really liked the kid, he was smart, polite and a hard worker. Plus this would take his mind off of thinking about Dr. Shephard's call. He tried not to think about because he didn't want to get his hopes up, but Jack seemed so confident that he could do it and if he had other success then maybe he could.

The kid was good, he had already scored more than half of the teams 29 points and it was only the second period. He didn't know much about the school's basketball team but he had heard they were good.

He looks over to the floor where the coach was standing and shaking his fists as one of the players gets a foul. He had white hair that was thinning at the top and wore a collared shirt with black slacks. He heard the other teachers call him Mr. Friendly. He didn't know if that was his real name or a nickname. He guessed it was real because the nickname didn't fit with the way he was yelling at the boys when they were winning.

His cell phone rings and he looks at the caller ID to see that it was Dr. Shephard. He tells Helen and wheels himself away into the hallway to take the call. "Hello" he says into the phone.

"John, this is Dr. Shephard" Jack says.

"Yes, I know. What's the verdict?" John asks with a small laugh, he figured out it was best to joke about these things and not take them too seriously. He gave up in miracles a long time ago.

"It is good news, John. I believe I can fix you. Of course it will require major surgery and the risks are the same with any surgery. If you are interested we can do this as soon as Monday."

It took Locke awhile for that to settle in. Dr. Shephard was saying he could fix him, that he could walk again. He and Helen had talked about it earlier and she was as supportive as always and told him that she didn't care if he walked with her on their wedding day or she wheeled him, she just wanted to be with him. She also said if he was going to this he was going to this for himself, so he could all the things he wanted to do. She said they could even go back to Australia and he could go on his walkabout.

"Ok" John says weakly. "Ok" he says again stronger. "Let's do this."

"Great, I'll see you on Monday. Remember not to eat or drink anything for twelve hours before the surgery." Jack tells him. "If you do if any questions please don't hesitate to call." He says before they hang up.

John rolls back to the bleachers with a sad look on his face. Helen turns to him. "Was that Dr. Shephard?" she asks. "What did he say?"

He keeps the sad look until it slowly breaks out into a smile. "He said he could do the surgery." He says unable to keep his excitement hidden. Helen covers her mouth with her hands as tears start to form in the corner of her eyes. She stands up and get in his lap to hug him.

She gets off and they return their attention to the game. The games excitement level had picked up since the other team had tied the score while he was gone.

"Basket by Walt Lloyd!!" the announcer screams as Walt comes down from the dunk.

"That's my boy!" the man next to them says smiling proudly.

They look at him and smile and applaud with the rest of the crowd. Walt was only a freshman but already making headlines as the leading scorer. His height helped him out he was very tall for his age.

"Michael" the man says to them holding out his hand.

"John Locke and this Helen" he tells him shaking his hand.

"Locke, my boy talks about you, you're the new sub right?" Michael asks.

"Yes" He says a little surprised. He didn't think he made that much of an impact on the young boy. He had subbed a few classes with Walt and always enjoyed talking to him. But he figured like most kids his age he forgot about an old man as soon as he left the classroom.

They watch Walt go up for another dunk as another boy tries to block him, they see him come down hard and crumble to the floor. The crowd stands up to see what happened, as John tries to strain his neck to see through the people that gathered in front of him, Walt lies on the floor holding his leg in pain.

"WAAALLLTTT!" Michael screams and rushes down the bleachers to his fallen son. Coach Friendly and the trainer were already at his side.

* * *

A/N: I took some liberites and made Walt a little older, because if Jack can have a teenage son, then a few things have changed and Walt was born eariler.


	6. Rose and Bernard

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Rose and Bernard**

Rose and Bernard Nadler were in the hospital again. They had been here so many times they had almost gotten used to it. Rose lay in the bed while Bernard fussed about trying to make her comfortable. When she told him about her diagnosis he didn't care, he still wanted to be with her. They had gotten married a little under two years ago and she couldn't imagine her life without him. He was her rock, the one person that kept her sane through all the chemo treatments.

Bernard loved his wife more than anything; she was the strongest person he knew. She was fighting her cancer and he knew in his heart that she could beat it, even if it was supposed to be terminal. Rose didn't take crap from anyone, so she could fight off those cancer cells and be healthy again. He knew he was expecting a miracle but he wasn't going to give up hope.

They hear a knock at the door and look up. "Mr. Reyes?" She asks surprised to see her boss visiting her.

"Hi, Rose" he greets. "I brought you some flowers to brighten up the room. I always hated hospitals they were to plain." He says a little shyly.

"You didn't have to." She tells him, they were beautiful flowers. They looked set up in a fall theme. With light orange and yellow flowers. They also looked expensive.

"What kind of person would I be if I didn't help brighten up one of my best supervisors" Hurly replies back with a smile.

"I'm hardly your best." Rose replies back.

"You are, Rose. You have a knack for finding people the jobs that are almost tailor made for them." He beams proudly; thanks to her they had the best job placements in the city.

"Rose, come on now. He is right, most the jobs you find people end up becoming permanent." Bernard tells her. He always liked Hugo. He always made time to come and speak to them at the company parties. He was a real nice fellow and didn't let the money to go to his head or drive him crazy. He admired that about the younger man.

Hurley motions to the chair asking if he could sit. He came here hoping some of his luck would rub off on her. She wasn't only a great employee she was a great person and didn't deserve this happening to her. Most people were afraid to talk to the boss and steered clear of him. But Rose always came right up to him and gave him her opinion and he liked that.

"Rose, how are you feeling today?" a doctor says as he enters the room.

"I'm fine, ready to get this over with" she replies with a smile.

"That's my girl, always the optimist." He jokes. "And we have a new visitor today." He says noticing Hurley sitting on one of the chairs.

"That's my boss" Rose replies.

"Boss, you must be one great employee to have boss pay you a visit." He says with a smile.

"Hugo Reyes" he says standing up to introduce himself.

"Dr. Goodwin Stanhope" the doctor says shaking his hand.

"Your Rose's doctor?" Hugo asks.

"I'm her radiologist." Goodwin replies.

"And my favorite one." Rose says. He was, he was the only one that actually took the time to talk to her, and the others always acted like they were in hurry. She knew they were busy; taking the time to relax was a rare commodity among the young people nowadays. They were always rushing here and there and making rash decisions because they didn't know how to slow down.

"Thank you" Goodwin replies as he walks over to her bed to start wheeling her out of the room. "Are you coming with Bernard?"

"You don't have to." Rose tells him

"I can go, I don't mind." Bernard answers.

"It's going to be boring as always." She says, she knew he went to support her but it was just x-rays and they always said the same thing that she was dying so there was no need of for him to hear that again.

"I don't care, Rose. All that matters to me is that we are together in this." He replies taking her hand.

Rose saw Hugo smiling in the corner. She knew she was lucky to have Bernard and he was right. They were together in this no matter what happens.


	7. Sayid

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Sayid**

Sayid Jarrah was driving his brother's car around downtown LA trying to clear his mind. His brother was home from the hospital and he told him that he took care of his problem. But now he had to further distance himself from Nadia. He couldn't escape the demons from his past, he was a killer and he was dangerous. He needed to keep her and kids safe.

They thought he was a translator but he wasn't, he was hired to make people's problems go away. It was the only thing he was good at. He scared people by being so calm when he killed; there was no sign or warning for him. There was no need he felt it best to get it over quickly, he didn't want people to suffer. He never enjoyed seeing people in pain, even when he was a tortured people for the Republican Guard. So he was quick and painless with his kills, most didn't even have time to realize what happened.

Nadia needed a man that didn't have blood on his hands and could give her the normal life she deserved. He would pack his bags and tell them a translator was needed in Paris. He could hide out there for awhile and maybe when everything calmed down he could return.

Suddenly he sees a bright red Porsche heading straight for him, he tries to swerve out to way but the Porsche still slams into him.

He shakes his head, rubs the back of his neck and winces as he moves. He didn't need this right now so he takes a deep breath and opens the car door; he gets out and grimaces as he moves his left leg. He limps over to the other vehicle and sees a blond woman frantically trying to rouse her brunette male passenger. He knocks on the window a few times to get her attention. Finally she looks at him and pushes the button to slide the window down. The woman's forehead and cheek were cut and bloody, the glass from her windshield had shattered.

He gets a better look at the young man who was unconscious and covered in blood; his right leg was caught under the weight of the crushed passenger side. "He'll be alright, I'll call an ambulance." He tries to reassure her, but she just panics some more.

As he's limping back to his car to get his cell phone he hears police sirens. He turns around to see a cop car pull up next to them. A female cop gets out and runs to the demolished Porsche and pulls out her radio. "This is Officer Cortez badge number 23 I have an 11-80, need an 11-41 immediately." She says. "What's the 10-45?" he hears through the crackle of her radio. "C, he's unresponsive."

He walks back over to them. "I'm sorry to have to ask this but while we wait for the ambulance can I see your driver's licenses and proof of insurance from both of you."

Sayid takes out his wallet and hands her his license and insurance card, the blond woman does the same. "And what is the name of your passenger, Miss Rutherford?" she asks.

"Boone Carlyle." She responds weakly.

"And his relationship to you?"

"He's my brother…step brother." She adds.

"Ok, " she says turning to him. "I would like you to accompany Miss Rutherford, Mr. Carlyle and me to the hospital. Both of you look like you can use a doctor checking you out as well."

He wants to protest that he's fine and that he just wanted to go home, he didn't care about the car he had the money to fix it but the two younger people were badly injured. They needed help and he didn't want to cause trouble. There was no way to connect to him the murders of Keamy and his men but he couldn't chance it by looking like he wanted to run. He nods his head. "Ok" he tells her. He'd have to call Nadia and tell her about the accident it obviously wasn't his fault, but the young man and women were in no condition to talk about insurance right now.

The ambulance arrives and they pry open the passenger door and take the young man the ambulance in a stretcher. The woman wants to ride with her brother so the cop asks him to ride with her. He gets into the passenger side. As they ride to the hospital he sees a picture of little boy that looked to be about 1 or 2. He guesses it's her son or nephew. He then reads the nameplate on the dashboard, Ana-Lucia Cortez.


	8. Desmond

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Desmond**

Desmond Hume felt like his bones were going to break as he tries not to make any sounds, not that it would make any difference no one would hear him over her screams. He grits his teeth in an attempt to smile when she looks at him. The grunting and the screaming continue until it quiet and then comes a loud wailing sound.

"Congratulation you have a healthy baby boy" the doctor tells them.

"Thank you Dr. Goodspeed." Desmond tells him as he looks at her "I love you Penny" he tells her as they place him in her arms.

They were in her room now spending time with their son, when they were dating he wanted to prove himself worthy of her so he told her he was going to join race to sail around the world. Her father offered to sponsor him more likely to get rid of him and hope Penny would find someone else in the time he was away. But he couldn't take back his money even after Penny said she would join him on his trip.

She told him that he didn't have to prove anything to her, she liked him the way he was, the one person that didn't care about who she was or who her father was. She didn't care if he didn't have money. She told him all she needed to survive was his love and if that meant sailing the world then she was going to go with. He could never say no to her when she was like that and he was glad he didn't. They didn't win the race, but he knew from that experience that he could never live without her. He puts his arm around her and smiles. "Hello there Charlie" he says to their son.

Penny looks at him. "He does look more like a Charlie" she agrees.

They named their son after her father, but calling him Charles just didn't fit when he looks at him. He looks up to see who entered their room. "Well speak of the devil" he whispers in Penny ear and she shushes him and smiles.

"Sorry, I had meetings. I would've been here" Charles says holding an expensive bouquet of flowers. Penny smiles and tells her father that it's ok and that she understands.

Charles shakes Desmond's hand squeezing tightly still letting him know that he didn't like him. Desmond had given up on trying to please the man, Penny told him it would be no use her father rarely liked anyone. They were a family now and there was nothing her father could to do the now. He would just be the grandfather that gave his grandson expenisive gifts like he did with her.

"He's adorable" a woman's voice says from the doorway, she was holding a stuffed polar bear in arms.

"You didn't have to get us anything Mrs. Hawking" Penny says to the older woman.

"It's Eloise, Penny. How many times do I have to tell you that?" She says smiling. "And it's not a problem, we are all a family now" She says putting the stuffed polar bear on the windowsill. "Hello, Desmond" she says brightly. "Charles" she says with her smile fading.

Desmond smiles at both of them, when he married into Penny's family he knew that they had a lot of baggage. Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking were together before he met Penny's mother and they had a son together.

"Is Daniel here?" she asks.

"Yes, he's around here somewhere" Desmond replies. Daniel had been here with the whole time, so he was happy that at least one person in Penny's family was there for her. Penny and her brother were very close. Daniel was genius and he never understood half of what he was saying but he was good man and he was proud to have him as part of their family.

The nurses came and took Charlie down to the nursery and he wanted Penny to get some rest before they went home so he walked to lounge to get something to drink.

"Do you have change for a coffee, mate?" he hears a male voice ask. Desmond looks over and sees a man dressed like an orderly standing in the corner, trying to hide his shaking his hands. He looks at his wrist and sees a hospital bracelet, this man, he was a patient. The man asks again as he keeps checking the doorway to see if someone was coming.


	9. Charlotte

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Charlotte**

Charlotte Lewis notices that the woman next to him shifted and moved her hands further under the jacket on her lap. She saw the glint of metal and smiles.

"You know James here, arrested me for smuggling…a coffee pot" She tells the woman, who smiles back. "He smashed it to pieces right there in the airport"

"You can't be too careful people will smuggle things in anything nowadays." He says defending himself.

"I don't doubt that." Charlotte replies with a grin. "But I'm still confused as to why you thought I was a smuggler."

"You're birth certificate." He replies.

"What?" She asks confused. "My birth certificate, what does that have to do with anything?"

"It says you were born in Essex, England in 1971." She raises her eyebrows at him. "The problem is the ink used to write it didn't exist until 1977. Meaning your birth certificate didn't exist until you were six years old."

She purses her lips and looks at him. "My parents were scientists, James. I was born on a remote island where the last thing they were worrying about was paper. My birth certificate wasn't written until we returned to England." She tells him.

He nods. "In my line of business people only fake documents when they were hiding something " he tells her "You've made eight trips to Tanzania…before our little incident. What's so special about Tanzania?"

"It's Africa." She says like he's an idiot. "It's been there since the beginning of time. Do you know how many tribes still live like the world never progressed? Do you how many artifacts have yet to be discovered?"

He forces himself to smile. "I got that, but Africa is huge and you spend all your time with one tribe and more specifically one place."

Charlotte smiles "See here, it's easy to gain people's trust because we will gladly make new friends, but in Africa it takes years to gain the trust of a tribe that rarely if ever lets in outsiders. Fake documents and lying won't work. You have to eat like them, hunt like them you have to become one of them that is not something done overnight." She tells him. "That tribe trusts me and to keep that trust I have to keep going back to help them."

James nods his head, he still knew she was hiding something but she wasn't a smuggler. "What are you looking for in Tanzania Dr. Lewis?" he asks.

"The past" she answers. _My past _she thinks to herself. Her parents were part of an organization called the Dharma Initiative when she was born. She was searching for the island that Dharma discovered; she spent so much time in Tanzania because that is where artifacts from with Dharma logos have shown up. She needed to find to find out where she was born, she had these memories of a paradise and her parents refused to tell her about it. So that only made her more curious, _what happened on that island?_

"Well it's been nice chatting with you again, James but I have to get back to going." She gives him one last smile and walks away. It was strange bumping into him again especially here; she'd have to tell Juliet about it. She walks quickly through the hallway not really paying attention to anything until she slams into him.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." She says helping the man up. He had longish brown hair and had on a collared shirt and tie.

"No…no it was my…fault I wasn't…I wasn't paying attention. " He says nervously.

"No, it was my fault I had a lot going on in my head and I didn't see you." She says noticing that they were in front of the nursery. "Did your wife have a baby?"

He looks at the window then back at her. "My sister…half sister…she had the baby" he tells her.

"Oh, well then, I guess congratulations on becoming a half Uncle." She says smiling at him.

"Half Uncle, right." He laughs

"Charlotte" she says extending her hand to him.

He shakes her hand then realizes he hadn't told her his name. "Daniel, I'm…Daniel"

"Nice to meet you Daniel" she says.

"So, uh what brings you to…the hospital?" He asks. "You don't look like you had a baby…but if um if you might've so you uh you look good then if that's the case…unless you're a doctor?...And I'm rambling aren't I?"

Charlotte can't hold in her smile. "You are, but that's alright" she tells him. He was nervous and kind of twitchy but she found herself smiling at that and she didn't know why, he was not the usual type of guy she'd go for. "No I haven't had a baby. I'm here helping out a friend of mine; she's the doctor, a fertility specialist." She says. "The couple she's helping only speaks Korean."

His brows furrow "And…you speak Korean?" He asks.

"Yes" she says. "I spent some time in Korea finding artifacts from the Joseon Dynasty." He was looking at her confused. "Right, sorry I'm an Archeologist; I should've said that first."

"That's alright." He says. "I'm a Physicist and you're an Archeologist…not that there is…any correlation between the two." He says shyly.

"Well, what kind of physicist are you?" she asks.

"Astrophysicist" he replies.

"Well I study the past and you study the future so there's a little connection there." She replies.

"I suppose" he says with a smile.

She smiles back and feels her phone vibrating against her hip. She takes it out and sees its Juliet. She holds up her hand to him "Excuse me" she tells him and takes the call and tells Juliet she's on her way. "I'm terribly sorry, I have to go" she says to him not really wanting to end their conversation.

"That's ok, you're working. I understand" he says.

"Goodbye" she says and turns to walk away.

"Do you want to get dinner…later I mean…with me?" he blurts out to her retreating back.

She smiles and turns around. "I'd love to get dinner with you...later." she replies.

She walks into Juliet's office with a smile on her face.

"What's with you?" Juliet asks.

"I ran into two good looking men" She answers. "And I have a date"

"Only you could get a date while being in hospital for five minutes" Juliet replies with a smirk.

"You could get a date too if you left your office once awhile" She replies back. Charlotte wanted to help her friend after her divorce, she made a medical breakthrough that she used as an excuse to not date anyone. "Well, the other man I ran into was the detective that arrested on me on my last trip to Tanzania, maybe you could go out with him"

"You want to set me up with the police officer that arrested you?" Juliet replies looking up at her from her desk.

"Why not, you both could use a little fun in your lives and I think you can bring that out in each other." She tells her, having no idea way she said that. She didn't know him that well but for some reason she knew he was lonely.

"His name is James Ford" She tells her.


	10. Ben

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Ben**

Ben Linus lay in the hospital bed pushing the button to call the nurse in, but it seemed to be broken because no one was coming in to see what he needed. He sees a doctor walk past his room and he calls out to her. She stops and peeks inside.

"Is there something wrong?" She asks.

"Yes, I'm in pain. I had a tumor removed from spine and this damn button isn't working. So I'd like something to ease the pain" He tells her raising his voice because he was pissed now.

She sighs and goes over to the edge of his bed to pull out his charts. She looks through them and walks over to the side of his bed. "Your attending, Dr. Shephard" She says. "He doesn't like to give patients too much medication, he likes write down a smaller dose first then a higher dosage if requested. " She tells him as she slides the button up.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Carlson" he says to her looking at her nameplate on her lab coat.

"For what?" She asks.

"For yelling, I was rude so I'm sorry." He says to her. He felt bad, he usually wasn't like that, but the pain was getting to him.

"It's ok." She tells him marking down that she raised his dosage. "I'll let Dr. Shephard know that you need a new call button."

"Thank you" He says as she leaves his room. He lays back down feeling much better than he did earlier. He still felt guilty for yelling at the female doctor, she wasn't even his doctor and she seemed like a nice woman that was probably was on the way to see her own patients. She took the time to help him and he appreciated that.

"Dr. Linus" She says entering the room.

"Alex!" he says surprised to see her, he didn't tell anyone what he'd be doing, he just told the school that he needed to take a leave of absence for a few weeks.

"Are you ok, Dr. Linus?" Alex asks worriedly. "You're not like dying or anything or are you?"

"No, I'm not dying; I just needed some minor surgery" he replies not wanting to tell her he could've died had they not found the tumor sooner but there was no need to worry her. He was fine now, the tumor was gone and he'd be going back to work in a few weeks.

"Ok, that's good" She replies taking a deep breath. "I kind of wanted you at my gradation and if you were dying that'd suck."

"That would suck" he replies with a smile. "I'm not dying and I wouldn't miss your gradation for anything Alex." He tells her. When she told him she'd been accepted into Yale he was as proud of her as if she was his own daughter. "What are you doing here?" he asks he was curious as to how she got her and how she knew he was here.

"Well, the woman that my mom let move in upstairs is having a baby and she asked if I could bring her stuff for the kid to the hospital." Alex tells him. "Then when I got here I heard one of the doctors mention your name and the room number. So I had to come here to make sure you were ok."

"That was nice of you Alex, thank you." Ben replies. He was happy to see her, because he didn't tell anyone he was here, the only visitor he had was his father who was here for his own treatments. Alex was one of his best students and loved history almost as much as he did. She wanted to be an archaeologist; he knew she would do great in that field so he encouraged her as much as he could. Her mother owned a small flower shop so she wasn't able do much traveling outside of LA. So she deserved to go see the world and discover whatever it had to offer.

"I have to go drop this stuff off" she says holding up the bag she was holding. "I'll stop by after."

"You don't have to, I'm sure you have other things you'd rather be doing then visiting me" Ben tells her.

"No, I want to Dr. Linus, I like talking to you." She says and pulls out her phone. "It's Karl" she says with her face lighting up. She answers it. "I'll see you later, Dr. Linus" she tells him and leaves.

Karl, her boyfriend he still wasn't so sure about that kid. He was in one of his classes and seemed to like being the center of attention rather than study. He was smart and did get good grades he just didn't think he was right for someone like Alex. He wasn't her father so he really couldn't tell her who to date. He sighs and lays back against the pillow and does off. Dr. Shephard had came in and fixed his call button and checked up on him but with the painkiller working he just wanted to sleep. He opens his eyes when a man in a wheel chair comes into his room.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I was told Dr. Shephard was in this room." The man says.

"He was, you just missed him." He tells the man.

"Ok, thanks" The man says and starts to wheel away but turns around. "I'm sorry again but is Dr. Shephard your doctor?"

"Yes" Ben replies.

"I was just wondering because I'm having him do my surgery in a few days I just wanted to know if he was any good. You know what, never mind it's none of my business" He says and starts to wheel away again.

"He is very good" He tells him. "He removed a tumor that I was told by other doctors was inoperable and now I'm a tumor free. So you are in good hands with Dr. Shephard."

"Ok, thank you that's good to hear." The man says smiling.

"I'm Ben by the way" He says feeling that for some strange reason he should introduce himself to him.

"John Locke" the man replies back wheeling towards his bed to shake his hand.

"Locke" he says as he was getting ready to leave. "Good luck with your surgery"

"Thank you" John replies.


	11. Miles

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Miles**

Miles Strume was getting bored, they had been sitting here for hours with no word on what was happening or if she even had the baby yet. They weren't family or in any way connected to the girl but since they brought her in and were waiting they should at least be updated.

"Do you think she had the kid, yet?" Jim asks him.

From the moment he met Jim he felt like he'd known for years. They worked well together because their minds were always on the same wavelength. "Do I look like her doctor? I've been sitting here with you so how would I know" Miles replies. "I don't know why they aren't telling us anything" He knew from experience how long some babies took to come out, but this wasn't his kid he was waiting for.

"Well, then Dr. Ray, why don't you ask?" James says to him with a smirk.

"Dr. Ray…really, so I moved from Harold Ramis to Dan Aykroyd." Miles replies.

"Yes, you won't ever be Bill Murray" James answers.

"Why? Because you're Bill Murray" he replies wryly.

"Yes" James says grinning. "You could be Slimer if you want"

"Are you two married?" Kate asks looking between the two of them. She'd been watching them argue and call each other various nicknames for hours.

Miles looks at Jim and smirks, he's about to say something when his cell phone rings, he looks who it is and smiles. "Hey" he says into the phone. Happier now then he had been.

"Hey" She replies. "

"Hey Mamasita" James says as Miles stands up and moves away from them.

Miles takes the phone away from his ear. "She asked me to ask you if you remembered what she would do to you if you called her that again." He says to Jim.

"Somethin' about the Exorcist and being in agony for months." Jim says with a smile. "I look forward to it"

Miles just shakes his head and moves further away to have more privacy.

"Are you at your desk? I'm covering an 11-80, I'm at the hospital with them and my laptop decided to crap out, I need you to check out license numbers of a Sayid Jarrah and Shannon Rutherford." She asks him.

"Which one?" He asks.

"Both of them" She replies like he was stupid.

"No, which hospital are you at?" He asks.

"Oh, St. Sebastian's" she replies.

"Well, I'm here too; I'm waiting for a baby to be born." He tells her.

"What?" She asks shocked.

"It's a long story, the summary is we caught Kate Austen and the woman whose cab she hijacked went into labor so now were waiting for the baby to get here so we can bring Austen to jail" When he's finished he hears silence on the other end. "You still there?"

"Yeah" She replies. "Let me get this straight, you caught Austen but are waiting for one of her vics to have a baby?"

"Yeah, that's right. I told you it was long story; I can fill you on the rest later." He tells her. He didn't know how long he'd be here. "If you have any time we can get something to eat at the cafeteria" He didn't really want to eat hospital food, but he was starving and he knew there was a possibility of her being in labor for hours. Plus he wanted to spend time with his wife.

"What'd Ana-Lulu want?" Jim asks when he returns to his seat.

"She's here too, with an 11-80" he replies. She said she'd call him as soon as she was done and then they'd grab some dinner.

"Well ain't this a small world after all" Jim replies grinning. "Who's gonna watch the kid?"

"You have a kid? Kate asks him.

"Yeah, a son" He answers her. "My mom's got him now, but I should give her a call and tell her she'll be watching until both of us get off of work." He pulls out his phone again and starts dialing. His parents loved watching him so it wouldn't be a problem but he would have to listen to why both of them shouldn't be in such a dangerous line of work.

"What's his name?" Kate asks curiously.

"Ricardo" Miles answers.

"Excuse me" A nurse says that was standing in front of them. All three of them turn to look at her. "Are you the ones that brought Miss Littleton in?" She asks.

"Yes" Kate replies quickly. "Is everything ok, did she have the baby?"

"No, not yet, but she will soon. She requested that Miss Austen be with her." The nurse tells them.


	12. Charlie

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Charlie**

Charlie Pace was getting agitated he just wanted caffeine to calm his nerves why couldn't the man understand that? He hated this hospital because they weren't giving him any drugs. "Come on mate, I just need a coffee or a soda." He says again to the man who was peering at him strangely.

"Are you alright, brotha?" The man asks.

He looks at his shaking hands and balls them into fists, he tries to grab on the edge of the plastic chair and misses but he manages not to fall. When he looks back up four orderlies run into the room and grab him.

"Took you long enough" Charlie tells them smug smile, then tries to land a punch on one of them. They manage to grab as he continues to struggle. He sees the man push himself into the wall so he wouldn't be hit.

He figured if he kept struggling they would have to subdue him and get him the fix that he needed. They grab his arms and his legs and carry him out the lounge. He tries swinging his body back and forth but the men they sent were built like an ox. They weren't even struggling to carry him.

He looks to the side a pregnant woman was being wheeled out of a room, he stops struggling as he meets her eyes. Her curly blond hair was matted to her forehead and she had an entourage of people following her, including two cops. Her eyes follow his as they pass.

They continue to carry him in the elevator as they go to the eighth floor. They finally put him down and knock on a door.

"I believe this is your 2 o'clock, doctor" they say to the blonde woman that answers. "Shall we tie him up?"

"No, that won't be necessary." She tells him much to their disappointment. "Mr. Pace, why don't you have a seat on couch?"

He looks to the door and sees that they are still standing there and there were no other exits, so he sighs and goes to the couch and flops down.

"We'll be standing outside in case he tries to make another break for it" The orderlies tell her.

"Yeah, because you guys did such a great time guarding me a few hours ago" He says winking at them. The shrink closes the door and takes a seat across from him. He looks around the room and sees her degrees and plaques. He sees her name Dr. Elizabeth Smith. They sit in silence for awhile until he can't take it anymore. "Aren't you supposed to tell me that drugs are bad and that killing myself is wrong Dr. Smith?"

"No" She replies. "I'm not here to tell you what to do and you can call me Libby"

"Well then Libby…what are you here for?" He asks sitting up.

"I'm here to listen to you, since you seem to have a lot to say" She replies smiling, sitting back in her chair, crossing her legs and placing her hands in her lap.

"Am I supposed to talk about why I tried to kill myself?" He asks.

"Only if you want to" She replies.

He looks her straight in the eyes to see her reaction. "I'm supposed to die"

"And why do you think you are supposed to die?" she asks without blinking.

"I keep having these dreams or nightmares about different ways to die. Every one of them is so vivid and real that I feel like I like I died, but I always wake up" he tells her, he figured she'd have more of a reaction but she's probably heard quite a few crazy stories being a shink. But it was also the way he woke from those dreams he'd just open his eyes and find himself to be sprawled out on his bed as if he was struggling.

She leans forward now. "So you think that because you are dreaming about death, that you are meant to be dead?"

"Yes" he replies.

"You know dreams aren't always meant to be interrupted so literally" she tells him.

"Mine are" He tells her. Why wouldn't they be? Every single dream was showing him different ways to die. So he just figured someone was trying to tell him something.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I felt like I was already dead" he tells her.

She tilts her head and looks at him. "You said felt. Do you not feel that way anymore?"

"What?" he asks.

"You used a past tense, felt instead I feel like I'm dead" she tells him.

"I don't know" he said he didn't even know he that he said that.

"Do you still want to kill yourself?

If she had asked him earlier he would have said yes without a doubt, but then he saw something that made him rethink it. "I saw this girl when they dragged me here… this pregnant woman and I had the sudden craving for peanut butter."

"Peanut butter?" she asks surprised.

"Yes I know it's strange, I mean I like peanut butter alright, but I never had an intense craving for it."

"But you do now?" she asks him.

He sits up straight. "Yes, the girl and the peanut butter craving, They made me feel something I haven't felt in a long time…alive"


	13. Claire

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Claire**

Claire Littleton gripped the sides of the bed as another contraction hits her. She tries to do the breathing she was taught but she's having enough trouble to remember to just breath so she doesn't pass out. She opens her eyes to look at Kate who was by her side. Kate holds he hand with her free one; the other was handcuffed to the bed. The cop that arrested her was dressed in scrubs and standing in the back with a strange look on his face.

It took some convincing to let Kate be here with her, but she needed her. The blond detective somehow charmed the nurses into letting him be in the room too and that Kate needed to be handcuffed to the bed. When they asked what her crime was, he told them it was classified. Claire was impressed that he was able to get his way, when she talked to them they seemed very rule oriented. She guesses she just as a talent for that kind of stuff.

"Ok, It's time to push, Miss Littleton" Dr. Goodspeed tells her.

She starts to panic "I'm not ready for this. I'm not -- I'm so scared. I'm scared." Claire says squeezing Kate's hand.

Kate squeezes her hand back. "It's ok honey. We're going to get through this together, okay?" she tells her.

She nods her head and looks back at the doctor and starts pushing. She was so happy that Kate was here and that she didn't need to be alone. She's sweating and tired; finally she hears the first tiny screams.

"Congratulations" Dr. Goodspeed says and hands her, Aaron. She didn't know where she got that name but she knew it was perfect for him once he was in her arms. Tears start streaming down her face, how could she ever think of giving him up. She looks up at Kate who also smiling.

"He's beautiful" Kate tells her through her own tears.

"Thank you" Claire tells her. Kate must have come into her life for a reason; out of all the cabs at the airport she hijacked hers. She was so shocked on that being her first experience in America that all she did was sit there and then she came back with all her stuff. She knew it was stupid to ask the woman in handcuffs to accompany her to the house of the adoptive parents but she didn't know anyone else and she couldn't do it alone. Then they ran into each other again, it had to be fate, Kate was supposed to be here involved in Aaron's life that much she did know.

"Do you want to hold him" She asks Kate.

"I don't know" Kate replies shyly. "I never held a baby before"

"It's not that hard" Claire replies pushing herself up so she could hand Aaron to her. She places him in her arms. She looked like a natural holding him. "Are you sure you never held a baby? It looks like you know what to do." She tells her as Kate slides her arms underneath his head.

She sees Kate look down at her son. "It feels familiar" Kate replies.

"Well you'll make a great mother one day." She tells her smiling.

"That will be awhile, cause I'll probably be in jail" Kate tells her nodding over to the cop in the corner.

"Can I ask what you did?" She was interested but she figured it was none of her business and if it was something horrible it would be better off pretending that Kate was just a nice person not a psycho. She knew that was idiotic but Kate hadn't done anything to really hurt her, she was just running away. That's what she kept telling herself anyway. So now she waited with bated breath to see what Kate would tell her.

Kate looks down at Aaron then back at her and sighs. "I'm being framed" she whispers to her. "I got involved with these people and I know shouldn't have. They got mad…and…now everyone thinks I'm a murderer."

Claire's eyes widen as she takes that in. "I guess you don't have to tell me the whole story" Claire tells her since that was very vague.

"I've done some bad stuff in my life...and I'm probably making it worse by running… but I never killed anyone" Kate tells her. "I couldn't"

"I believe you." Claire tells her.

"You're the only one" Kate says.

"You came all the way back to give me stuff my back. I don't think a bad person would do that." Claire says and she honestly believed that. Kate wasn't a bad person; she just made some bad choices.

Kate asked the cop if she could stay awhile longer, surprisingly he said ok. But he did call in his partner to take over watching her. He said he needed some air and all the baby stuff was making him uncomfortable, his partner was better equipped for this. He tells her congratulations and walks out of the room.

She watches as the he throws his scrubs in the bin like it was basketball hoop, he turns around just as a blond woman slams into him drenching him in hot coffee.

"Son of a...."

* * *

A/N: I think from that you can tell what couple I'm writing about next. :D It's on to the shipper chapters now.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**James and Juliet**

She walks through the hallway with her cell phone resting on her shoulder while trying to pull a file out of her bag with one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Her sister was complaining about her sleepless nights with her son.

"Remember when mom used to tell us how with you slept through the night and I never wanted to sleep." She says laughing.

"You still don't." Rachel replies in that older sister joking yet serious tone.

"Who needs sleep? There's always someone awake somewhere." Juliet tells her sister. "I know you can read Julian The Sound and the Fury that always puts your students to sleep."

"Ha ha" She hears Rachel's reply.

"I'll have to call you back" she tells Rachel and hangs up the phone she picks her head up at the last possible second so she has no time to react.

"Son of a bitch" he says looking down at his shirt that was now soaked in coffee. He looks up and sees that it was her, the woman he saw earlier.

"Oh my God!" she says dropping the file she was holding. "I'm so sorry" she holding up her hands unsure of what to do. It was him the police officer she saw this morning. She brings her hands to her head. "Are you ok? Is it burning you should take your shirt off"

He smiles at her. "You move quick, usually I would say you gotta buy me coffee first before the shirts come off." He says with a grin. "But seein' how I'm wearing your coffee…"

She smiles. "Take your shirt off I have to see if you have any burns." She tells him pushing him gently into an empty room.

He smiles and pulls his shirt over his head. She grabs the towels from the bathroom and soaks them in cold water when she runs back out he's sitting on the bed. Her heart beat accelerates at the sight of his bare chest and chiseled abs. What was wrong with her? Although she mostly dealt with women, she's seen it all before. So why she having this reaction and why did it seem like she's seen his chest before? She shakes her head and examines him. She presses the cold towels against his skin to take some of the redness away. It didn't break the skin, this was the one time she could thank the hospital cafeteria for having lukewarm coffee. "It looks your shirt soaked up most of it, it doesn't even appear to be a first degree burn." she tells him.

He smiles and nods. "That's good" is all he could manage to say at the moment he wouldn't have felt it if there were burns all he could do was stare into her blue eyes. Suddenly he had a flash of lying in bed with a woman tracing a weird symbol burned into her back. He closes his eyes and sucks in his breath.

"Are you ok?" she asks concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine" he replies. _What was that?_

"I'm going to put some Aloe Vera on just in case" she says walking over to a cabinet, she reaches inside to get to the cream and as a vision of picking an leaf off of an Aloe plant. She shakes her head and sees the tube in her hand, she didn't even remember picking it up. _Where in the world was she with an Aloe plant? _Rachel was right she probably needed some rest. "Here put this on before you put shirt back on…oh my God your shirt." She says looking at it covered in the brown liquid. "I'll pay for you to get a new shirt at the gift shop".

"This old thing." He says. "Don't worry 'bout it." He takes the tube, opens it and rubs it over the red spots. He grabs his now coffee colored shirt and starts to put it back on.

"I can't let you walk around in that" She says and searches through her bag and finds her baggy Miami Central University shirt, she must've grabbed it with the rest of her stuff in her rush this morning. "Here put this on" _Why did this feel so familiar?_

He smiles. "Why do you carry t-shirts in your bag?" he says taking it and putting it on.

"For the Aliens" she replies with a smirk.

He laughs, witty. But he knew that and didn't know why. He watches her nervously slide her hair behind her ear and look at him. He swallows. He has to stop himself from reaching over and doing that himself. He couldn't stop staring at her, he's never her seen before but he felt like he's known her for years. He had the strongest feeling pulling at him telling him not to let her go. "We could go get more" he says as she starts walking out of the room.

She stops and turns around slowly giving him a strange look.

"Coffee" He clarifies. "I figure you were going to drink it not dump it all over random strangers."

It was a word she heard every day. _Coffee _but hearing him say it made her heart skip a beat. It was just coffee why was it having this kind of effect on her. She shakes her head to clear it. What was she doing, she was too busy. "It was nice meeting you. You seem like a good guy but I don't have time for dating, so…" She says. "So, I'm going to leave now"

"Come on, it's just coffee, that's all I'm asking. Just coffee" he says smiling shyly.

Seeing the sincerity in his smile she suddenly has a feeling a déjà vu wash over her. "Alright, but not today I have a lot of work to do"

"Ok" He says smiling. "I didn't get your name?"

"Juliet" She replies.

"James" He replies back with his name.

She tilts her head and smiles. "James Ford?" She asks.

He laughs "You're psychic too" he says smiling. "Anythin' else you can tell about me Miss Cleo?"

She brings her hand to her head. "Let me see… you arrested a red headed archeologist…for smuggling" James tilts his head as he looks at her in shock. "I'm a friend of Charlotte's; she's told me about you"

"Oh" he says a little disappointed, this woman would not nothing to do with him if Charlotte told her about him.

Something was telling her to stay, to not leave him. "We can go for coffee sometime, if you're still interested?"

"I'm still interested" he says quickly. "I mean yeah, I'd like that" he says trying to cover for his eagerness.

"We can go dutch" She adds with a smile.

"Fine by me"

She smiles and holds out her hand. "It was nice to meet you."

He smiles and takes her hand in his. Then all of sudden he's over come with such strong emotions, his eyes close and in the back of his mind he hears his voice. _"Ok…ok I got'cha, I got'cha…don't worry"_

Juliet sucks in her breath when his hand touches hers. She closes her eyes when a myriad of emotions wash over her, she hears her voice. _"I have to tell you something…it's really really important"_

They both open their eyes at the same time. "It worked" they say in unison.

* * *

A/N: Don't worry there will be a part 2.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

* * *

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

**Jack and Kate**

She stood by Claire as they rolled Aaron out of the room to take him to the nursery. She smiles at the young woman.

"Alright, the baby's born, everyone's ok. So we can go now" Miles says breaking her reprieve. She sighs as her reality comes crashing back to her. She'd never have this, they made sure of it. She turns to him and nods. He reaches over and un-cuffs her from the bed and places it back on her other wrist.

"Congratulations, Claire. He's beautiful." She smiles again, she still looked so scared, but she somehow knew it would be ok.

"Hi, Miss Littleton I brought your stuff" a teenage girl says entering the room.

"Thank you, Alex" Claire says to her.

"Did I miss him?" Alex asks.

"They just took him, I can see if they can bring him back if you want to see him?" Claire tells her.

She watches as the teenager puts the bag on Claire's bed and starts taking her stuff out of it. She takes that as her cue to leave.

Miles gently grabs her arms and escorts her out of the room. She walks through the hallway with her arms behind her back, she looks up to see a short man in a hospital gown and sneakers running towards her with some orderlies chasing him. He starts pushing things over to slow them down when he gets closer he pushes a gurney out of his way she doesn't have a lot of room to move and she feels the stinging as the gurney nicks her in the side.

"Hey!" She hears Miles say as the man just kept running. She tries to see the damage and sees that her shirt is ripped.

"Are you ok?" She hears a man's voice say. "I just saw that, I'm sorry"

"Why? It wasn't your fault" she tells him.

"I should take a look at that, I'm a doctor" he says smiling.

"I think the lab coat gave it away, Chico" Miles says to him.

The doctor just looks at him. "Can we take her to room so I can look at it?" He asks Miles.

Miles sighs and nods. "Someone really doesn't want you to go to jail" Miles whispers in her ear.

"I'm Dr. Shephard" He tells her as he sees the officer handcuff her to the gurney. He had the strangest feeling that he's seen her before.

"Kate" she replies.

"You were on airplane" he says suddenly. He remembered that but it felt like more. He felt like he knew her.

"I'm sorry" She says startled.

"The plane, flight 815 we ran into each other at the lavatories"

"Oh, right we did" she replies. When she saw him it had felt like déjà vu, she didn't really believe in that. But being her with him again the feeling was stronger.

"Well anyway let me take a look" he says lifting her shirt up slightly. "It got you pretty good; you're going to need stitches." He tells her and rolls his chair back to the cabinet to pull out the supplies he needs. He rolls back and starts to clean out her wound. "Did you ever patch up a pair of jeans?" He asks

"I, um, sewed the drapes in my apartment" She replies.

"I'm sorry I don't know why I asked that." He says looking down and laughing to himself, wondering what was wrong with him, what did that have to do with anything?

"That's ok" She says smiling and having the feeling they had said to each other before, which was impossible because they didn't say too much to each other on the plane and she's never seen him before that.

"Yeah, were in the Twilight Zone, freaky. Now can we hurry it up?" Miles asks. "We had to wait for Littleton to have her kid and now we're stuck with Dr. Giggles"

Jack looks up at the sound of that name. "Did you Littleton?" He asks.

"Yeah" Miles answers.

"What's her first name?" He asks his heart beat had sped up. It couldn't be that would be too much of a coincidence.

"Claire" Kate answers. "Do you know her?" She was getting a little worried his face had gone white and he looked like he was going to pass out or something. She reaches out and touches his shoulder. She felt a little awkward doing that since she didn't know him but she had an overwhelming need to comfort him.

"…I was looking for her." He begins. "She…her name was in my father's will, but I got busy." He laughs. "It can't be the same one, I'm sure there are others with her name."

"Is she Australian?" Miles asks.

Jack swallows. "…yes"

"She was in your father's will, what does that mean?" Kate asks him.

"I don't know, that's what I wanted to ask her." He says finishing up the last of the stitches. In the back of his mind he thought he knew who she was, he just kept hoping it wasn't true. Christian Shephard was a hard man to love but this? He didn't want to believe.

"We can go together…to ask her" Kate suggests. For some reason she knew that what he was about to find out would affect him and he would need someone to there with him.

"No, he can go alone. He's a big boy." Miles tells her. Kate looks at him. "I'm not my partner your puppy dog eyes won't work on me." Miles says.

"I can't let him do this alone" Kate tells him. "I just have this feeling that he's going to need someone"

"You think the sweet I-want-to-help-everyone act is going to stop you from going to jail?" He asks her.

"No, the jail will still be there when where done." She says.

Jack was watching them argue back and forth of whether to help or not and it felt familiar only he wasn't standing in a hospital, he was on a beach. He shakes his head, he really needed some rest.

Miles sighs; he knew that if that girl was in his father's will the most obvious reason would not something you want to hear about your father. He rubs his face; he didn't know what possessed him to do this. "I guess were going back to Oz" he says rolling his eyes.

"Thank you" Kate says to him.

"Live together or die alone" Jack says. They both look at him. _Why did he say that?_ Ever since he started talking to Kate he was having these strange feelings of being somewhere else with her. He shook himself out of it and they start walking towards Claire's room.


	16. James and Juliet Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.

Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.

**Sideways Stories from the Castaways**

* * *

**James and Juliet Part 2**

Memories begin flooding through their minds, a conversation about Aliens, attacking people on a beach, docks and two weeks, dinners, picnics and holidays, smiling, laughter, witty remarks and retorts, a baby being delivered, sun flowers and lying around in bed together.

They both suck in their breath as the last memory hits them hard. Hands grasping each other tightly, shouting wrecked with guilt and lost chances, crashing to the empty darkness alone with a bomb and a white light, waking to see him holding her in his arms with so much love in his eyes.

"Juliet" he chokes out as the all those emotions run through his body at once.

"James" she says softly as the reality of what happened to her in that other life hits her.

He pulls her into his arms and holds her tightly as she leans against his chest squeezing his back. Tears run down both of their faces. They wanted to change that life so it never happened and they did. But the memories of the life were real, the pain, the tragedies, the happiness and sorrow had happened to them.

He holds her face in his hands. "I love you Juliet, I love you so much" he says finishing what he didn't get to say when he lost her twice, he leans in and presses his lips to hers. They separated slowly; smiling and he reaches forward and tucks a stray lock of her blond hair behind her ear and out of her face. He brings her in his arms. He felt as if he had waited a lifetime to hold her in his arms again, he wasn't going to let her go.

"I was wrong" She says as her eyes fill with tears.

"'Bout what?" he says whispering in her ear not wanting to let her go.

"About us" she says. She was wrong, she never should have doubted him, and she wasn't his second choice for the first time in both of their lives they were first in each other's hearts.

"Being with you right now is all that matters; it's the universe way of tellin' us that were meant of each other." He tells her.

"The universe, when did you start believing in that?" she asks with as smile.

"The moment I saw you face again" he tells her. "I knew I was in love and I don't believe in love at first sight" he says grinning.

"Maybe that's how it works" she says with a smile.

"What? When people lose each other in another universe and find each other again?" he asks with a laugh at the absurdity of it all. A few moments ago he didn't believe in time travel and magic healing islands. But now anything was possible even a different universe.

"Yep" she answers with a grin, than her smile fades. "My life is so different now" she tells him. "I remember that other life and things have changed. I was happy but I still felt…"

"Empty" He finishes for her. Juliet nods her agreement. He had thought he was content doing his job and nothing else but he wasn't. He had flings but nothing serious and it wasn't that he was afraid, he felt empty inside and couldn't give himself over to someone else completely. So he always pushed everyone away. In his other life he felt the same but instead of pushing them away so he wouldn't hurt them he used them to get what he wanted.

She hadn't been in too many relationships, she blamed it on work, but that wasn't it. Her marriage was a mistake they barely knew each other and only happened because of the circumstances and even than she knew she couldn't stay in it. She just wasn't interested in the men she met, she dated a few to please her sister but they didn't feel real.

"Is there somewhere we can talk that's more private?" James asks her as he sees the other people hospital staring at them. He supposed they did look strange holding each other like they were in the middle of the hallway.

She thinks about it, her office wouldn't be very private since it was a general office that she borrowing. Then she smiles. "Yes" she tells him and they start walking.

The sheets still covered the entrance because the finishing touches were being added but it was safe to be there. "This is the new wing to the hospital, it will be open in two weeks" She tells him holding open the sheet so they could walk through.

"Two weeks, huh" He says with a knowing grin and she smiles back. James looks around at the brightly colored hallway. "What's it for the kids?" he asks.

Juliet smiles, "Psychiatry" She replies.

"Crazy people, that fits since that's what people will think of us if they tell them" he says following her along the corridor.

They find some plastic chairs along the wall and sit down. Still holding on to her hand he looks at her and smiles. She meets his gaze. "James" she says.

"What?" He asks.

"I was married to Jack" she tells him quickly wanting to just get that out there.

His face registers shock and confusion. "Jack…and…married?" he asks trying to put the sentence together.

"Yes" She replies. "We met in Med School in a general surgery class" she says. "We were performing an appendectomy." She thinks back at how strange that was now. "He was cute and we were just dating and…I… got pregnant" she stays trying to keep his eye contact. "That's why we got married"

"So you and Jacko have a…?" he asks, he was disappointed and happy for her. If none of that other stuff had happened to her than at least she got to live her life even if that included a kid with Jack.

"Son, his name is David" She tells him. "He's amazing and one of the only good things we got from our short marriage"

"How long were you married?" he asks.

"Four years" she says. "David was three when we divorced"

"So you never met Edmund?" He asks wondering what happened to him.

"Now that I know my other life, that's another good thing, I was with Jack when I shared a class with Edmund Burke so I had no interest in him" They were lab partners again but she had a boyfriend that she liked so Edmund's attempt to hit on her went nowhere. So her relationship Jack saved her from a world of pain that she would have shared with Edmund.

For that he was grateful, he heard all about her former ex husband and was glad she never went through any of that.

"I married Jack because of David, being a family was important to both us so we tried. I knew from the beginning of our relationship that I loved him but wasn't in love with him. We were married for four years but stopped acting like it after two." She tells him. "He was so afraid of being like his father that he distanced himself from our son that even at three David could sense something was off. So I knew that it wasn't going to work and staying in the marriage would only make it worse. Just because two people love each other doesn't mean they're supposed to be together" she tells him repeating the words her mother told her and the words she told James in the other life. It took her another life to understand what those words meant. "Things are better, Jack came around and he and David have a great relationship now." She wondered if their island selves would've turned out the same had they not had any obstacles in the way. The obstacles made them figure out sooner rather than later that they never would've worked. Now with none they had to figure it out themselves.

He sighs, Jack as an ex was ten times better than Edmund. It made him think of Clementine, he never met Cassidy so she didn't exist. Now Juliet had the kid. "How old is he?"

"Fifteen" she answers. "Jack and him are the only reason I'm in LA" She tells him. "I wouldn't have been here to meet you." She says with a smile. "Maybe this was all supposed to happen"

"Maybe" he agrees.

"You're a cop" She says wanting to know about his life.

"Detective" he replies.

"What made you decide go into law?" she asks.

He takes a deep breath, just like always he felt comfortable telling her about his life choices. She was the woman he was waiting for. "My parents still died in…the same way"

"James" she says squeezing his hand and looking at him, she didn't go through the same thing but she understood more than anyone he's ever met.

"I wanted to find that man, Sawyer." He says trying to calm himself down, he meets her caring gaze and his breathing returns to normal. "I was writing him the letter but the pen wouldn't work. My Uncle came up to me and took the paper away and told me it wouldn't bring them back. I knew he was right but I was still angry."He takes a breath. "After the funeral I saw the cops arresting someone across the street…I saw them throw him against the car and shove him inside. I didn't know who the man was or what he had done but I felt a sense of justice being served. So I decided then that I was going to do that too, I was going to find criminals and put them behind bars so they couldn't hurt anyone." he says. "I majored in Criminal Justice at UCLA, so that's how I ended up here" he smiles at her, maybe she was right. "If we both lived in LA this whole time, how come we didn't meet until now?"

"I don't know" she replies. "Something brought us together...today April 15, 2008" she says. "I don't care why, James I'm just happy I found you" She raises her hand and caresses his face. She reaches her hand around his neck and pulls him closer for a deep kiss.

"I didn't think they're would be anyone else here" a voice says to them.

They break away from each other. "Hurley" James says surprised. He still had his mutton chops and was dressed in a suit.

"Dude, no ones called me that in a long time, do we know each other?" He asks. He didn't recognize them but they felt vaguly familar.

James looks at Juliet. "No, not in this life time" Hurley looks at them confused.

"We were just looking for somewhere private to talk" Juliet says as they both stand up.

"That didn't look like talking" he tells them with a smile. "Who am I to judge if you two want to play Grey's Anatomy"

"What are you doing here?" James asks.

"I donated the money to build this wing" He tells them. "Hugo Reyes" he says holding out his hand.

"James Ford" he says shaking the outstretched hand.

"Dr. Juliet Carlson, I work here" she says shaking Hugo's hand.

"Juliet!" a female voice says behind them.

Juliet turns around and sees a frazzled woman running down the hallway towards her. "Have you seen a short blond man in a hospital gown running around here?" she asks when she's in front of them.

"No" Juliet replies. "Did you lose a patient" Juliet asks.

"No, well sort off. I thought we were making progress so when I opened my door to let him go back to his room he took off. He's looking for some pregnant woman that he saw earlier, he told me she's his reason for living"

"I know how he feels" James says looking at Juliet.

"His name is Charlie, he in a band"

"Driveshaft" James finishes her sentence.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Lucky guess" he says.

Libby looks up at the man standing behind them. "Do I know you?" She asks.

"…I don't…think so" Hugo replies shyly.

"I have seen you before…you look very familiar" she tells him rubbing her jaw. "Hugo Reyes!"

Hugo jumps back a little surprised. "…yes that's me" he says.

"They kind of had thing before she died" James leans down and whispers into Juliet's ear. She smiles.

"Well Hugo Reyes, this is Dr. Elizabeth Smith a friend of mine" she says introducing them.

"Libby" she says holding out her hand. Hugo takes it and both of their eyes close and their breathing increases.

"Is that what we looked like? No wonder people were staring" he says smiling at Juliet. "You said a pregnant woman?" He asks Libby and she nods. "I think I know where we can find your missing junkie" he tells her.


End file.
